After Turkey lurched further towards authoritarianism with the arrest of Istanbul’s mayor, Israel has followed suit, with the Knesset backing a bill to bring judicial appointments under political – government – control.
The move, which prompted a parliamentary walkout of the opposition, is a central part of a raft of “reforms” of the independent judiciary proposed by a cabinet dominated by far-right ministers. The response has been massive protest marches and the measures have been described as a “judicial coup” and, by one civil rights group, as “a nail in the coffin of Israeli democracy.”
So far seven petitions against the change have been lodged with the Supreme Court.
As prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s government has moved further to the right, the courts have become an increasingly vital safeguard of the country’s Basic Law and barriers to both Netanyahu’s unconstrained rule and his ability to escape accountability on corruption charges. To strip the judiciary of its ability to block the government’s political priorities, or to pack its ranks with pliable stooges, are now the government’s imperative.
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The Supreme Court is currently dealing with a range of politically sensitive cases including petitions against dismissal of Shin Bet security service head Ronen Bar, against the reappointment of national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and a law changing how the judicial ombudsman is selected. It will soon hear petitions against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s proposed dismissal and the judicial appointments law. And then there is the case against Netanyahu himself, now halfway through the courts.
Most of these involve attempts by the deeply unpopular Netanyahu to purge remaining independent voices inside the state apparatus, or to bring back allies, or to obscure and delay investigation into the events of October 7th, 2023.
Israel is in turmoil, at war externally and riven internally and its much-vaunted democracy faces increasing peril.
